R.M.Doshit - (1.) The petitioners before this Court were the partners in a partnership firm- Tirupati Trading Company (hereinafter referred to as "the firm). The petitioners challenge the judgment and order dated 21st October, 1794 passed by the Gujarat State Cooperative Tribunal, Ahmedabad hereinafter referred to as, "the tribunal" in Appeal No. 506 of 1993.
(2.) The Firm was member of the Mehsana Nagrik Sahakari Bank Limited, a Cooperative Society (hereinafter referred to as, "the society" registered under the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as, "the Act.") in or around the month or January, 1988, the Society had extended cash credit facility in the sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- to the Firm. In the month of March .1989, the said facility was renewed for a sum of Rs, 1,25,000/=. The Firm failed to repay the said loan amount. Eventually the society instituted Suit No. 1876 of 1990 before the Board of Nominees of the Registrar for- recovery of a sum of Rs. 1,13,911-16 paise and interest against the Firm, its partners and the sureties. The said suit came to be allowed by the judgment and decree dated 24th November, 1993 against the Firm and the sureties but was dismissed against the partners in the Firm. The Board of Nominees recorded that the Firm and the sureties were members of the Society. But, the partners in the Firm were not the members of the Society. The Board of Nominees, therefore, refused to pass decree against the partners in the Firm.
(3.) Feeling aggrieved, the Society preferred above referred Appeal No.506 of 1993 before the Tribunal. The sureties preferred Appeal No.56 of 1994 in so far as the decree was passed against them. By the impugned judgment and order dated 21st October, 1994. the Tribunal dismissed Appeal No.56 of 1994 preferred by the sureties. The Appeal No.506 of 1993 preferred by the Society was partially allowed. The Tribunal held that not only the Firm and the sureties but the partners in the Firm also were personally liable for the dues of the Society. Order was made accordingly. Feeling aggrieved, four of the partners in the Firm, the petitioners have preferred the present petition under article 227 of the Contitution of India.;